Humanoids from the Deep (1980) New World/Horror-Sci-Fi RT: 80 minutes Unrated Version (graphic violence and gore, language, nudity, sexual content including rape, drug use) Director: Barbara Peeters Screenplay: Frederick James Music: James Horner Cinematography: Daniel Lacambre Release date: May 16, 1980 (US) Cast: Doug McClure, Ann Turkel, Vic Morrow, Cindy Weintraub, Anthony Pena, Denise Galik, Lynn Theel, Meegan King, Breck Costin, Hoke Howell, Don Maxwell, David Strassman, Greg Travis, Linda Shayne, Lisa Glaser. Box Office: $2.5M (US)
Rating: *** ½
Movies like Humanoids from the Deep make me wish I was born ten years earlier. It would have been great fun to watch this awesome B-movie with other connoisseurs of trash cinema. Sadly, I was only 12 when it came out. I knew it was pointless to even broach the subject with the parental units. The answer would have been a big fat “NO!” Of course, I probably wouldn’t have appreciated it as much then as I do now. At that age, I wasn’t yet acquainted with Roger Corman or New World Pictures. I was only vaguely aware of my love for trashy exploitation movies. I’d have liked it, but it wouldn’t have meant the same to me as it does now.
Corman serves as executive producer on Humanoids from the Deep, a fright flick in the tradition of old-fashioned monster movies with a few modern twists. It’s a pastiche of The Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Horror of Party Beach, Jaws, Alien, Prophecy and a few other titles. First, I LOVE the title Humanoids from the Deep. It’s custom-made for the marquees of drive-ins and 42nd Street grindhouse theaters. It’s certainly better than Monster, the title used by the uncut version on my DVD copy. Second, the title creatures are the work of Rob Bottin, the makeup and effects whiz best known for his work on 1982’s The Thing. Half-man and half-fish, they are fierce! There’s a lot to be said for actors in rubber suits. Last but not least, while it might be derivative of other creature features, it’s still its own movie because of the scenes of the monsters raping young women for the purposes of propagation of their species. These scenes raised a bit of controversy, but I’m going to circle back to that in a bit.
In the small fishing village of Noyo, CA, times are tough for the local fishermen. There doesn’t seem to be a lot of salmon around these days. This is the main reason a majority of the residents support the opening of a huge cannery by a big corporation- i.e. more jobs. The Native American locals, represented by Johnny Eagle (Penya, Megaforce), are against it because they’ll lose their fishing rights. This creates a great deal of tension with the townsfolk especially Hank (Morrow, The Bad News Bears), a nasty bigot who leads others in blaming all the town’s problems on the Native Americans. And oh boy, does this town have problems.
Something fishy is going on in Noyo. It involves amphibious monsters that kill men and rape women. Since the local sheriff is basically useless, the one leading the charge against the slimy fish-men (and bigotry) is Jim Hill (McClure, The Land That Time Forgot), a working stiff who’s as handy with his fists as he is a rod and reel. He’s joined by Dr. Susan Drake (Turkel, The Cassandra Crossing), a scientist who works for the company that wants to open the cannery. Naturally, she knows exactly what’s going on as she was partially responsible for it. She was experimenting on salmon with a growth hormone when some of them got released in the ocean and eaten by a rare species of fish that then mutated into the humanoid creatures. You see, this is why genetically modified foods are a bad idea.
Corman hired Barbara Peeters (Summer School Teachers) to direct Humanoids from the Deep, a rarity in that horror movies generally weren’t directed by women in the misogynistic 70s and 80s. Dissatisfied with the rough cut, he asked her to go back and film scenes showing nudity and sexual assault by the fish-men. He also asked for more gore to meet his expectations of B-movie exploitation. When she refused to compromise her principles, he brought in second unit director James Sbardellati to oblige. Corman didn’t inform the cast and crew of these plans; most were understandably pissed off about the changes. When Peeters saw the final cut, she tried and failed to have her name removed from the film. I don’t know how she feels about it today, but Humanoids from the Deep has become something of a minor classic.
Now let’s move on to something more fun; namely, the gory killings. I could have done without all the dead dogs, but the rest of the bloody monster violence in Humanoids from the Deep is cool. Much is made of the elimination of the scene of a man’s head being ripped off from most versions of the film. I’m pleased to report it’s in the DVD released by Shout Factory about ten years ago completely intact. It happens during the finale at the town’s Salmon Festival when the fish-men show up uninvited and create bloody mayhem. It’s the best part of the movie! Well, that and the Alien-inspired birth scene at the very end. There is plenty of S&S (spurt and splatter) in Humanoids from the Deep. Did I mention that the monsters look cool? I did? Well, they do!
Humanoids from the Deep benefits from a nifty cast led by McClure who makes for an affable hero with his level-headedness and natural leadership qualities. Morrow, sporting the dopest Afro ever given to a white guy, growls and chews his way through the role of the town bully. Hank is a complete bastard who tries to redeem himself at the end with an act of selfless heroism, but considering all that came before it, it’s hard to forgive him. Turkel is pretty good as the brains of the group. Penya is great as Johnny Eagle, a noble Native American who just wants to preserve his people’s land. Linda Shayne of Screwballs shows up briefly as “Miss Salmon” at the festival. It’s always nice to see her.
What’s interesting about Humanoids from the Deep is that it tries to inject statements about the ecology, bigotry and the dangers of science into the bloody mayhem. It’s an ambitious move on the part of Peeters and writer Frederick James. They manage a decent balance between message and monster movie. Things are helped along nicely by James Horner’s score, his first ever. In short, Humanoids from the Deep is AWESOME! It exemplifies everything that’s great about B-movies.
